Taste: fudge, caramel-toffee, sweet molasses, mocha coffee, dark fruit, prunes, plums, chocolate-covered cherries (there are lots of dark/chocolate fruits present). Much sweeter than I expected, and I appreciate that there is no over-bearing burnt coffee or chocolate. I never once noticed the 13% and was shocked to see it, it is not a "hot" beer. Very warming on this cold winter night. A strong port-like character, very acidic, lost of prune/plum/ chocolate cherries.

Mouthfeel: Incredibly thick, almost like a milkshake. Feel of molasses and honey.

Drinkability: I was surprised by how easily the first 1/2 went down, the second half had more sediment and was not quite as good.

I am glad I was able to try this beer, but I will not seek it again. It could benefit from some time in a bourbon barrel.

I am doing a week-long RIS tasting, Darkness, Dark Lord, Kate the Great, Founders RIS, Sexual chocolate, etc. I found Dark Lord to be much thicker and more complex than Darkness.

More User Reviews:

Cut to a street corner. Early morning. Two children waiting for a school bus. This could be your street corner. These could be your children.

Little Billy wears a pair of denim shorts cut off just below the knee, a white T-shirt announcing his membership in Little League, and a ball cap. His pal, Little Andy, is a bit rough around the edges—his shirt is worn, and he has decided to wait for the bus without the benefit of a hat. Andy is a "cool cat," as the kids say, the worst kind of ruffian—the kind that makes horseplay and delinquency seem like the "hip" thing to do.

A strange question to you or I, but Billy knows that Andy's leading somewhere, Billy can tell that he should answer honestly.

"Once, when my dad took me fishin'."

"Ahh, no. None of that. I mean a *real man*. You ever felt like one of those?"

"I—I guess not."

There's a sound, a familiar sneeipt that Billy's heard several times before. It's an adult sound, a sound he knows he shouldn't ever hear, but he wants so bad to impress Andy he doesn't seem afraid.

Andy takes a slurp of a can of Budweiser's "Light" brand beer and, making a face, hands the can over to Billy. Billy doesn't think. The can's in his hand and it's nothing but a silver and blue flash up to his mouth, the taste of stale bread and his grandfather's breath. He coughs, but sucks some down, and then hands the can back to Andy. Yes, now he is a real "home dog," he's ready to start skate boarding and listening to R and B music.

But wait…Andy's looking in the other direction, his mouth open like a hungry dog. Billy turns his head to see what Andy's looking at and—oh no, it can't be! But yes it is. First it's a dot, and then it's a blob, and then, oh god and then marching towards them big as life and sure and hell it's none other than "Mean" Joe Green, and he is one bad dude.

Andy falls over and starts crying. Billy keeps looking at the ground. He can't move. Mean Joe's getting closer and closer and he can't move, he can't run, he can't do anything but shake. All he wanted was to be cool, and now look at him. Mean Joe gets so close his shadow blocks out all the sunlight. Billy starts to tremble, to squeak out a plea.

"P-p-please Mean Joe. Please don't murder me!"

Mean Joe laughs.

"Murder you? On the football field, maybe. What I want to know is, why do you childrens think that drinking Bud Light's gonna make you real men?"

"I just did what Andy did. He's radical."

"Well, he don't look radical to me."

Billy looked down. Andy was covered in vomit, was passed out mumbling like a drowned nun.

Billy didn't go to school that day, nor did he try and wake up Andy. Instead, he went behind a shed to look at his new bottle. I found him there, and I hit him over the head with a pipe to steal his bottle of Dark Lord. Seriously, a kid isn't gonna like this.

It's too dark, for one. The head is little and brown which is pretty remarkable considering the massive amount of alcohol in this—but what's really on display here is the darkness. Think about the time before you were born and that's Dark Lord.

We're raised to appreciate two kinds of goodness in the worlds of taste and of smell. There's the natural and the artificial. Cherry Jolly Ranchers taste good, and so do real cherries, even if they don't taste anything alike. This is a combination of the best natural, earthen, fruity, and grainy smells you've ever come across, along with the best unnatural, chemical smells.

Kids don't know the smells of unprocessed molasses, burnt grain, or wood smoke. This would seem like a medicine chest mixed with a cookie jar mixed with a walk in a field—one whiff could scar a kid for life.

Too much complexity. On the very tip of the tongue it tastes like a dark wine, then it gets bittersweet, like fire roasted grain, browning apples, and molasses, then it gets regular sweet, like half-dark chocolate and a café mocha, and then it gets a little zippy, like Belgian alcohol and yeast. That's—that's like you're falling down a hill of flavor and then you climb it back up again, from the valley of the alcohol, into the sweet, and then into the bittersweet, and then into the wine. Giving this to a child would be like giving them a bar of acid and taking them to Disneyland. Nothing would ever make them feel happy again, ever.

The lights flicker as we knife the last bits of red wax (the year of his coming, 2012) off of the bottle, and as we pop the top, the hills rumble. The Dark Lord has arrived. It pours heavily and syrupy from the bottle, settling down the color of murky, oily motor fluid. A ring of fine butterscotch bubbles crowns the unholy beast, leaving axonal cords of lacing as you swirl the liquid. No haze or sediment is appreciable, and carbonation is fierce at its edges. His stench drips off him in waves of massive buttery diacetyls, forgotten mustiness, wasabi vegetals, cloying sugars of plum, dried figs, and orange marmalade fruitiness, hot peppery booze, powdered cocoa and milk chocolate sweetness, honeysuckle florals, molasses, light sunscreen chemical creaminess, sugary whole milkiness, golden raisins, heavy caramel, chocolate, and black coffee maltiness, charred barley, and the faintest green resinous hoppiness. We bow to him, thanking him for his audience, and he graciously allows us a taste. This comes as a mix of one of the sweetest nectars to have ever crossed our lips. Sweet, as in cloyingly puckering. Notes include heavy molasses, mulled chicory, syrupy prunes, red cherries, and dates, canned brown bread drip, Graham crackers, wet potpourri, sweet port and cognac alcohol airs, hairspray, liquid milk chocolate, chocolate milkshake lactics, apple cider vinegar, arugula, fusel phenolic plastics, chalky Milk Duds, soy sauce and salty seaweed, coffee liqueur, raw chocolate chip cookie dough, candied almonds, oily pig fat, and cola syrup. As it warms, the aftertaste breathes hotter and hotter of booze and chalked dark chocolate cloy. His body is more oily than chewy, but full nonetheless. Carbonation is lightly moderate, but you have to work for it. Slurp, smack, cream, and froth are supreme, aided along by the heavy residual sugariness. Glug is immutable. The mouth’s mucosa is brushed with this same dripping thickness, and eventually curls into a soft dusty dryness. The abv is hearty, but we don’t dare dictate to the Dark Lord. He demands to remain, so you obey, sipping away at a slow, slow pace.

Overall, what an experience!! To be in his presence at last is such a lovely thing. You hear the rumors, but even after assessing his aroma, you aren’t satisfied that they may be true. The nose is sweet, yes, but not overly cloyingly so. It has the fruit, the coffee, and sugariness, but they blend to a harmonious end. Then, you sip. The sugars hit your teeth, and you reel backwards. At first, it is admittedly shocking, but the more you give into it, the more it warms you, drawing you in. You begin to appreciate the cloy for what it is, and by the end of the glass you are stuporously happy. Still, you find yourself yearning, reaching for balance in the world through the foggy darkness. You beg for each and every one of those fifteen perfect to dive in and pull you from the sugary muck. They only come as rumbles from the depths of the gullet; they do not ride across the top, where you wish them to be found. We are sad to see him depart, and as our only vintage we have no basis of comparison, but perhaps a younger beast would help quell some of his uncharacteristic sweetness. Rest easy Dark Lord, and thank you.

Stood in line at DLD 2009 to pick this up. I let it sit for a little while but I got some good news and felt like it was a good celebration drink.

A: Cut off the white wax and poured aggressively. It's black and viscous with a hint of red. Tiny bit of ruby red showing through on the edge against the light. Fizzy small dark coffee copper head that dissipates quickly. No head to provide lace but it leaves an oily coating on the glass.

T: Lovely. Dark chocolate, burned acidic coffee. Hint of tart dark fruit. A little burn from the alcohol but barely noticeable. Really dry woody aftertaste that makes you want to go in for another sip. As the drink warmed more, the tartness become more prominent and the sweetness became more intense - really nice.

M: Amazingly thick and smooth stuff. Hint of carbonation gives it a wee bit of life but who cares, it's like an awesome beer milkshake!

D: Very excited about having it. No regrets. Met the hype. Serving it warmer than recommended definitely was the way to go. Dangerous stuff - very potent but the alcohol is pretty well masked and it's so tasty, you find yourself drinking it quicker than you intended. Really great brew.

I had high expectations for this beer. 2012 version, which I aged for two years. This beer is a thick, cloying, disaster of a beer. Soy sauce and molasses dominate the taste of this 15% monster. This beer nears drain pouring status, the simple fact that it is a single day release beer made me finish my glass. It looked great when poured, from then on....it sucked! really just a big let down. There was one person that liked it, good for him...have another glass.

Appearance  This one is interesting even before you pour it. Hold a flashlight up to the cool-looking artisan bottle and you will see mounds of sediment. It looks like theres more sediment in there than beer.

Watch it again as you pour it from the bottle. It really does ooze instead of flow. I have to go back through my other reviews and delete any reference to motor oil after seeing this stuff come out of the bottle.

This 13.00% ABV monster actually brought along a great head. The head is so darkly browned its almost black itself. This truly is the Dark Lord.

Smell  I cant even think of any way to describe this without sounding like Im exaggerating. The malts are burnt, there are about eight different scents of coffee and espresso styles in there, and the fruits are enormous. Every dark fruit Ive ever had is in this nose. The alcohol is there but in a really good sort of way. Think Kettle One.

Taste  The flavors are like a crowd of people at a pub each one calling for the bartenders attention. I can hear some screaming, Coffee, espresso, and others calling out for, Dark, heavily roasted and burnt malts. The fruit table in the back room is really getting rowdy.

If I had to focus on one group of flavors it would have to be the fruits. They are giant, hybrid fruits that have genetically mutated into unnatural monsters. The cherries and apricots are like giant boulders avalanching down a mountainside. The dates are bigger than a Boeing 747. All of these giant fruits are covered in a chocolate mudslide of historic proportions (think, cheesy 1970s The Blob movies).

Mouthfeel  This really does cause one to pause and reassess ones definition of a full-bodied beer. Do I have to go back and change all the other big beers Ive had to medium? Its almost as if they made a thick stout then reduced it down in a saucepan.

This redefines smooth. It just oozes along your teeth and gums. Its like a really good, sexy, juicy French kiss. Think, Making out with Pamela Anderson after she just ate a box of Belgian chocolates. If this beer had a finger sticking out the side of the bottle Id put a wedding ring on it.

Drinkability  I dont think it would be accurate to say that it, masks the alcohol, because theres no question when drinking this that its got a high ABV. The alcohol is just so good, like really good, high-quality vodka. You know its booze, but it goes down like water.

I can sincerely say, without sounding too over-the-top, that this is smoother than water. It is just that good. This is so far above any other Stout that Ive had its a shame that I cant give it anything higher than all 5s.

Comments  The most unbelievable part of this story is that the bottle wasnt even mine. Skyhand was incredible enough to split it with me. Now THAT has to be the ultimate BA sharing experience. Id push my mama down a flight of stairs if she tried to take a sip of my Dark Lord.

Update  Yes, skyhand was kind enough to share with me a 2005 just after release. It gave us an opportunity to evaluate this amazing beer at a young age.

At this stage, the bitterness was much stronger and the flavors a little less blended together. I think for 2005 they also changed the filtering process because this bottle lacked sediment of any kind.

Overall, is it still a perfect 5.0? Yes, indeedee, it certainly is. This is the pinnacle of the ADS style and stands apart from the crowd like Tiger Woods at a childs Putt-Putt golf park.

2009 vintage: Big malty body, liquorice, molasses, coffee and dark chocolate. held up well, not the sugar bomb per se that others have alluded to.2010 vintage: Appears to be sweeter than 2009. Belly-warming, complex and ballsy for sure.

I owe a great thanks to Nchrist13, Nick, for bringing me this bottle from Dark Lord Day 2006. I kept this beer in my fridge for one year and cracked it on Dark Lord Day 2007 in honor of the event.

Appearance is as described on the bottle. Engine oil body with a fomenting carbonation that creates a brown, bubbly head rising from the depths. Lacing is minimal but each swoosh of the glass reinvigorates the head. It persists beautifully for the duration.

Equally complicated flavor. Lots of molasses. Very sweet but balanced by those lovely FFF hops. Tons of fruit. Vinous and diverse with most every dark/black fruit one can think of and hints of the tropics. Some Belgian tropical/fruity/yeasty booziness. Cappuccino and French vanilla. Pine resin in the finish.

Warming on the throat but not burning. Mysterious mouthfeel. Sweet and smooth then bitter and harsh. Warm and comfy then intense and challenging. Molten. Public Enemy are liars. Believe the hype

Thanks to doobliebop for this one! 2012 edition with the red wax, shared with some people at a Super Bowl party. Pours a thick and viscous black color with a thin and measly tan head, even after a pretty aggressive pour. The beer looks pretty dark, commanding, and brash, so I'd say "Dark Lord" is a pretty fitting moniker.

The aroma on is super sweet; vanilla, cocoa powder, oaky and woody, with some creamy coffee mashed in there. Very sweet and roasty on the nose - nearly no hops or hop-like aromas are even detectable on the nose. But the aroma is still pretty fantastic. Caramel and huge brown sugar aromas come out more as this one warms up. It smells like a candy shop, no question about that. I typically like my stouts more bitter and not quite as sweet, but there's still no denying that this beer smells pretty damn good.

Dark Lord cascades over the palate with a super-creamy and smooth mouth feel, and the first and most prominent flavor that comes to mind is super sweet, burnt brown sugar. This beer is sweet as hell. Despite that, the sweetness is manageable, but still a little over the edge. The sweet vanilla and oak flavors come out next; molasses, syrup, coffee with a humongous dose of cream and sugar, sweet, dense currants and dates - all these flavors are present and constantly attacking the palate under the command of that brown sugar flavor that's still running strong.

This beer is certainly boozy, but definitely doesn't feel like 15% ABV; it's possible that the sweetness of this beer subdues the alcohol burn a little bit, and in turn, maybe that's what prevents the sweetness from being cloying, despite its sheer intensity. Tons of flavors clashing; a menagerie of flavors attacking your taste buds and stretching them to the limit. Carbonation is pretty low, the body is still thick and viscous, silky and creamy as hell.

This is one of the sweetest base stouts out there. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't too unmanageable or too cloying, but it was still pretty damn sweet. Then again, it was split 5-ways - I might be saying something else had I finished the entire 22 oz. bottle on my own. Though I typically prefer my RISs to have a heavy bitter offset from a huge hop addition, Dark Lord showed almost no hop character at all and was still pretty enjoyable to me. Vanilla, cocoa, caramel, molasses, dark fruits, oak... This is a great beer; though it may be too sweet to drink a bunch of, Dark Lord is awesome in small pours.

S: Huge aromas of roasted malts and dark chocolate. Some dark bread, soy sauce and licorice and molasses. A rich and powerful smell.

T: This one really fills the whole mouth with flavors. Every sip is like getting hit by a tidal wave. Roasted malts all around, sweet dark chocolate, more sweet toffee, coffee and caramel. Every now and then, a slightly burnt flavor develops. Woody notes. The taste is predominantly sweet. The finish is quite bitter with big notes of well integrated alcohol, salt, hints of licorice and soy sauce, and perhaps some hop notes.

M: Mouthfeel is off the chart on this one. Ridiculously big body, viscous like old engine oil and smooth beyond belief.

D: So, what to say about this one, the dark lord, one of the white whales? Well, it's just a great beer. Fantastic mouthfeel, rich and powerful taste, and very complex. However, it's a little on the sweet side, so it's not perfect. But I actually think it manages to live up to it's reputation.

M - The feel is thick and syrupy with a long coating finish. It does go flat about halfway through the glass though.

O - This beer did not live up to the hype for me. I love the fact that it's 15% ABV as I wish more breweries would try to make beers this strong. It's definitely an above average stout and good for the high ABV but this beer is way overhyped. I would not trade for this considering what you have to give up to get a bottle.